the start of September + the end of the summer

The mornings are foggy, cloud cover rolling in from the water. We can hear the ferry's fog horn through the grayness as if it were just down the hill instead of a few miles away. But the afternoons are bathed in golden sunlight, which warms our skin and whispers to us that Summer has not yet passed on the baton to Fall, her bright sparkling fingers brushing against his warm ones, bright as a fire.

September is slipping through my fingers, with hot weather and lazy days of visiting friends and dinner in town while I await the start of school. This week too, we're moving into an apartment and will finally attack our Ali Baba caves (storage lockers). The past few weeks, even though I've complained about having nothing to do and being stuck at home, have actually been wonderful: a slow end to summer and an equally slow wade into the school year, as I go on campus for appointments and orientation. I've had more freedom to visit friends, work on a project or two, help unload the container, and just cook lunch. Don't get me wrong, I am very excited about getting back to a real schedule and schoolwork and learning, but hey! there will only ever be one summer 2013 so why not live it up?

And this summer has held so many good and hard things, and has been filled to the brim, and so very lived up.

From the first days of June to these first of September, our days have been busy rather than calm. I rode around many country roads in eastern France with dear friends, and swam off the northern coast of the Mediterranean with others. There were meals eaten outside in the glow of the setting sun, picnics at the lake, fourteen liters of ice cream, exploring fortresses, dancing in the streets of the old town, and holding brand new babies. Then we moved back to the NW, leaving roots buried deep in that farming soil. Here we've found our roots again: saying goodbye to some, and starting to grow some new ones. We've hiked on Orcas, eaten homemade key lime pie, driven along roads we know so well we could navigate them with our eyes closed, eaten popcorn in the sun kissed yard, and been the subject of many many happy reunions.

It's been a good summer.

And now? I'm sitting at the dining room table with two of my siblings. Both of them are working on homework. Zaz came up to me ten minutes ago, asking for a blanket to take outside. Just now he yelled through the window, "Do you think I've gotten enough vitamin D yet?' "A little longer," I told him, and gave him my phone to listen to music.

This is where we're at. Summer is fading, but fall is good too, and this one promises to be grand.